Without
by Chef Erica
Summary: Rose has fallen ill and only the Doctor can save her, but first he must find a way to get to her. My first Doctor Who fic. Please read and review.
1. Chapter 1

Standard disclaimers apply. Don't own. Blah, blah, blah. Big thanx to Reichenbach for the brainstorming help and betaing. Oh, and the title. Everyone should read her fic by the way.

Now, everyone enjoy and R&R.

XYZ

Rose's head hurt so bad she could barely see straight. She was sure it had to be stress related. Last week she had driven to Bad Wolf Bay with her family and said goodbye to the Doctor for the last time. Now with that and her mother's hormonal mood swings and starting her new job at Torchwood, well, she needed an Anadin.

Her life had changed so much since she came here. There was the obvious no more Doctor. Mickey wasn't the same Mickey that clung to her legs after the Nestene kidnapped him. He was older, wiser, and braver. He loved the excitement Torchwood offered him, and he even was dating a little. Mum and Pete were so happy together, well, as happy as Jackie could be, and Pete was getting used to having a daughter. For Rose, he wasn't the same Pete the Doctor had taking her back in time to meet, but he was trying, so she smiled at his efforts.

Torchwood seemed quite the same as before. The warehouse would have been like a playground for the Doctor. Ray guns and transports, boxes of parts and pieces. He could have sat down on the floor surrounded by them with his Sonic Screwdriver and entertained himself for hours, completely ignoring her, except for the occasional, "Rose, take a look at this, guess what it does?" Mickey's desk was even a third of a TARDIS console that he had found in a pile of twisted metal going out for scrap. "It reminded me of home," he had told her. He had even gotten the screen and some of the devices to work and interface with his own computer.

The thought made her smile sadly. Mickey was standing next to her when they walked in and saw it. He gave her a reassuring smile and put his arm around her shoulder in a brotherly fashion. "It's gonna be okay, Rose. You'll see. It might take a while, but you'll see." He was lying through his teeth, and they both knew it.

Rose went upstairs to her office. The office was nice, if small, on one of the upper floors with a window. She could see the Thames River from her desk. She had pictures of her family on a filing cabinet behind her chair. Jackie and Pete renewing their wedding vows shortly after arriving here, that time he got her name right, Mickey and herself sitting at the edge of the fountain where they used to eat lunch, before she left, and one of the Doctor and herself. She had found it in the archives from the other Jackie's birthday party. The Doctor was laughing, and she was glaring at him because she had just found out that a dog had her name. Rose did not find it the least bit amusing at the time.

And stashed in the top drawer of her desk was a large bottle of aspirin. She had only had it three days, but it was already 1/3 gone. Rose sat down at her desk and cracked her neck, trying to relieve some of the stress in her body. She was so tired today. Maybe this weekend she would go for a massage. She could take her mum. Jackie was always up for a day at the spa.

XYZ

Roses headaches weren't going away. They had persisted now for three months, gradually getting worse. Sometimes she would have to close the blinds in her office and sit in the dark to get relief. Mickey was starting to worry about her as well. It wasn't normal to have this kind of pain for this long. Jackie was starting to nag her about going to see a doctor, and even Pete, who really wasn't that observant when it came to her had noticed her withdrawing more and more.

Finally, the pain was more that she could stand, and she had Mickey drive her to the clinic. She refused to let Jackie come with her because she didn't want her exposing herself to all those viruses at six months pregnant. Mickey insisted on pushing her in a wheelchair, and she felt ridiculous in the huge sunglasses, but she couldn't step outside without them, and whenever the doctor left the room she made Mickey flip the lights out.

"Well, Miss Tyler, I don't see anything in your CT scan that would cause the headaches. Your blood work does reveal some slight anemia, which, with the stress of the recent events in your life, could be contributing. For now, I'm going to prescribe a stronger painkiller than what you've been taking and a vitamin supplement. If this doesn't work, then we may need to refer you to a neurologist, see if there is something else going on in there."

He smiled as he handed her a slip of paper with her prescriptions on it. Mickey snatched it and stuffed in his pocket of his ever-present leather jacket, glaring at the unhelpful physician. There was no way that it was just a vitamin deficiency. The doctor's smile disappeared as he stepped out of the way of the wheelchair being pushed out of the room. That guy made him nervous.

XYZ

After they had gotten home from the clinic and Jackie had received the report she insisted that Pete makes some calls and get her that referral to the neurologist. Having one of the most influential people in England as her husband came in handy.

Rose went to her room, all the while listening to her very pregnant mother worrying about her very loudly to Pete. She loved that about her Jackie Tyler, even if it did hurt her head.

The new painkillers helped a little bit. She could go back to work without too much trouble, and read the files on her desk without the words doing the samba across the page. She still couldn't get herself to go down the noisier labs because the sights and sounds tended to make her nauseous, but all and all, she was feeling a quite a bit better.

She went to the neurologist two weeks later, where they ran every kind of scan they could think of. PET scans, CAT scans, and CT scans, EEGs, EKGs, MRIs, more blood was drawn, if there was a test for it, they did it on her. Rose felt a bit like a pincushion. Mickey held her hand the entire time, and was required to call Jackie and Pete every hour on the hour with updates.

By the end of the day Rose was exhausted, and knew little more than she had before the battery of tests. It would be a couple of weeks before the results of all the tests came back, but she already knew what they would say. She was beginning to suspect what the problem was.

XYZ

Mickey sat at his desk in the lab going through photos of the newest acquisitions in the warehouse. They needed to be identified and cataloged before they were stored or backwards engineered for study and application. Most of the pieces were of little interest to him. A trans-mat, they were already working on one of those in Research and Development, and this one looked like its circuits were fried already, useless. There were two energy pistols; those might be worth have a second look. The last picture caught his attention. It was a large cylindrical ship of some kind. The description stated the wreckage was found at the center of London in 1941 after a German air raid.

He ran to the lift as quickly as he could with all the other lab jockeys milling around, many of which turned to watch him zip passed. A couple shook their heads, wondering how he could have gotten a management position, even if Pete Tyler was a good friend of his, and he got results. He had no A-levels, and his work experience was mostly auto repair.

The lift opened on Rose's floor, and Mickey was so excited that he almost slammed into the doors before they opened. He walked more calmly once he was on her floor so as not to draw too much attention to himself, her colleagues could be quite uppity from time to time, and entered her office. At first he couldn't find her, but he was sure that she said she would be in her office all day today. He walked around her desk to sit in her chair to wait for her to come back, but as he rounded the corner he found her lying on the floor unconscious.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanx to everyone who reviewed. And a special thanx to Reichenbach again for all her input. Hope everyone likes it.

XYZ

"I'm fine, Mum. I just got a little lightheaded and stood up to fast is all. I just need to go home and have a good night's sleep. I'll be good as new in the morning, you'll see," Rose tried to reassure her frantic mother.

Jackie was having none of it. "You passed out, Rose, that's not nothin'," Jackie argued. "The doctors want you to stay overnight for observation and I think that is a good idea."

Rose was already getting out of the hospital bed and reaching for the blouse that the nursing staff removed from her when they put on the tacky blue paper dressing gown. "I'm not staying here tonight, and that is final. Now you can either help me or get out of the way so I can get dressed."

Jackie frowned and handed her the trousers that were hanging on the back of the chair she was sitting it. "Fine, but you're not drivin'. You're likely to run straight into a wall or somethin'."

"I'll take her home for ya," Mickey volunteered. He had been quiet for most of the evening in the hospital. "My car is waiting outside." Rose smiled her thanks to him.

"Fine, if you're gonna be ganging up on my like that, I guess I don't have choice but to let her come home tonight, but I still the doctors are right about you staying here tonight."

"Your objection is noted, Mum. Now, let's just go home."

Mickey and Pete helped Rose get up and walk to the exit after she had changed and Jackie waited while Mickey brought his car around.

When Mickey and Rose were alone in his car she sighed, "Thanks Mickey. I don't think I could have ridden home with her tonight."

Mickey smiled and patted her hand. "No problem. I wanted you to have a look at something from work anyway. In the glove box is a folder. Take a look at the picture."

Rose opened the compartment and opened the file. It was dark so she had to flip the overhead light on to see. What starred back at her stunned her and sent her back to that time oh so long ago, when she had met Captain Jack and danced with the Doctor for the first time. "It's the Chula Ambulance. But it was blown up 65 years ago I think."

"Apparently not. And since we're not all wearing gas masks right now the nannites are all still inside. I was thinking that maybe, if we can get it open, we could use them to fix whatever is wrong with you. The doctors aren't helpin' and you're getting' worse." Mickey glanced at her from the drive's seat.

"I don't know, Mickey. It could self-destruct or something if we're not careful, and there are so many better uses for them than me. Besides, I don't even know if there is something actually wrong with me other than that anemia and the headaches." Mickey frowned at her. "OK, we can try it."

"That's my girl," Mickey said in his best Doctor voice.

XYZ

Rose sat at Mickey's desk early the next morning fiddling with the TARDIS controls in front of her and smiled sadly. This TARDIS was dead, probably killed in the Time War. It took Mickey two months of fiddling to get the functions of the console to interface with his own computer. There was very little memory in left in the old machinery. Most of it had probably been lost when the Time Vortex died. It could still translate language, which came in handy when he needed to talk to the alien computers, and could broadcast, but little more than that.

There was no one else in the lab this early in the morning. They had planned it that way. Rose didn't want nosy lab techs milling about around them, mucking things up.

"Alright, here we go," Mickey had the capsule moved near his workstation the night before for easy access. It was laying on it's side and he was standing over it with a blow torch.

"Wait. There's a key pad on it, right?" Rose asked from the desk.

"Yeah," he answered.

"Don't you think that maybe you should try to interface it with your computer before you start hacking bits off?" Good old Rose.

A grin spread across his face, "That could work I suppose, but I was really looking forward to cuttin' this baby open."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Boys and their toys."

Mickey pulled some cables out of a box and attached them to the security pad, then stretched them to his work console. Rose scooted her chair out of his way as he rolled a stool in front of the screens. "It probably won't be very hard to open. It's designed for emergencies, right?"

In seconds the pod door popped open and little tiny golden specks hovered over it. "It's waiting for a command. My computer can speak directly to them. Now to give them a task."

"Wait, before we do this, these things have never seen a human before, so you'd better tell them." Mickey logged on to the Internet and downloaded the Torchwood Emergency Response medical info and fed it to the little nannites.

Mickey designated a place for Rose to stand, then ordered the nanogenes to scan her. The strange, but familiar sensation of the nanogenes scanning her passed over her body. At first it tickled, then it itched, then the sensation changed. It was no longer pleasantly warm, it burned and it scared her. "Mickey, something's wrong."

"Just a second," Mickey said as readings flashed across his computer screen.

"Now, Mickey, shut it off NOW. It's not working and it _hurts_." The nanogenes retreated immediately.

Rose fought to take in a shaky breath, then stumbled to a waste bin and retched what little she ate for breakfast. "Sorry about that," Mickey said as he rounded the desk and helped her up. He wiped her damp brow with his sleeve. "You alright?"

"I'll be fine, just, lets not do that again, OK." Mickey nodded and helped her back to her chair.

The nanogenes' information was fed through the TARDIS translator before the Mickey's computer began processing it. The medical program Mickey had downloaded analyzed the information, which was taking way too long as far as they were concerned. As they went over the readings the nanogenes sent back to his computer they both realized how serious the situation really was.

XYZ

Now that you've read, don't forget to review.

E


	3. Chapter 3

hey everybody, thanx for the reviews. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

XYZ

Snow gently drifted down around him as he sat in the cold, early morning air. His breath fogged before his eyes as he waited for the lights in the small flat across the road to come on. The air was fresh and crisp as he took a deep breath and sighed, smiling.

It was their anniversary. She had been gone now for ten years, but on the anniversary of the day that they met in the basement of the shop he went to visit her. He once told her that he was Father Christmas and the look on her face when he correctly guessed what she had gotten gave him an idea. On 'her day' every year, whether he had a companion or not, he stopped by the Powell Estates on Christmas Eve and secreted a gift he knew Jackie would never be able to afford, no matter how much she wanted to give her daughter the world, under the tree, always from "Father Christmas."

This year she was 12 and it was the year of the red bicycle. He had put a lot of thought into which bike to get for her and had asked many unfortunate passersby their opinions. He had finally settled on a very nice fire engine red Schwinn with a banana seat and a white basket. The Doctor took special care hanging tassels from the handlebars and even put an annoying horn on it, just for Jackie's benefit.

The light in the flat flipped on and the Doctor heard a familiar, if much younger, squeal of excitement. The sun was just peeking over the horizon and a little Rose was struggling to get her new, shiny toy out of the door and down into the freight lift so she could try it out. Jackie was right behind her yelling at her that she was going to break her neck and to be careful. The Doctor shrunk deeper into the shadows as he observed, smiling broadly. She liked the bike.

He slipped up to the roof of the tall building, fully intending to spend the rest of the day watching her ride her gift around the various obstacles in her neighborhood. A 15-year-old Mickey had shown up at some point and was trying to get Rose to let him have a ride, but she didn't want to share. She had safely tucked in the basket her favorite teddy. That same stuffy was stashed away in his room now, it had been on the TARDIS when Rose 'died.'

His reverie was interrupted by the TARDIS. Before she had quietly been humming a gentle lullaby into the back of his mind, like she always did when she was content, but her tone changed as she summoned him. "Not today. You know I never do anything on this day," he sighed at her. This was the only day of the year he really allowed himself to dwell on Rose. The TARDIS was insistent. "I don't care if it is a distress signal, you're a time machine." The Doctor glared at the air in front of him. "Fine. I'm coming, but don't expect me to hurry."

The Doctor climbed down to the ground, careful to not be seen by the children playing with their new Christmas gifts. He had parked the TARDIS a mile from the Powell Estates and he sauntered the entire way, smiling at the memories of the girl and her bike.

"Now, what's the big emergency that it couldn't wait until I got back this evening, huh?" he asked as he began pushing buttons to access the so-called distress signal. He nearly fell over when he saw it.

"Doctor, I hope you get this message. We need your help," Mickey stated. "Rose is sick, real sick. I think she's dyin'. We used some nanogenes on her, but they couldn't fix her. I attached the information they recorded to this message. I don't know what all of it means, but you probably will. The only thing Rose said about it was that it had something to do with the Bad Wolf." The transmission cut off after that.

Without any que from him the TARDIS was extrapolating and translating the medical information and presenting it on the view screen.

"What? TARDIS, double-check these findings, would ya?" According to the readings Rose's body was deteriorating at the cellular level. The integrity of her DNA was compromised. Her genetic material was breaking apart. The TARDIS reanalyzed the information and confirmed his suspicions.

The Doctor swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. "Did the damage occur when she absorbed the Time Vortex?" he asked the machine. She answered him affirmatively. "So, all the time we were traveling after I regenerated you were holding her together, weren't you?" The TARDIS' lights blinked another yes.

He couldn't believe it. By sending her to the alternate universe to save her life he had essentially signed her death warrant. He should have known. He should have seen it coming. He felt so stupid.

"Alright, let's see where the transmission came through to this universe." Hopefully it was not in deep space, because he couldn't take the TARDIS with him. It was fruitless though. The TARDIS confirmed it was the same place she had stalled and dropped into the alternate universe. It would take about 10 years for radio waves that carried the signal to travel from there to the earth. If he used that route it would probably kill the TARDIS.

"OK, we need to find another way. Are there any other stars or black holes that produce enough energy to open a door without destroying both universes or ourselves in the process?" Negative.

"Well," the Doctor sighed, "Do YOU have any ideas?" Without his touching the controls the engine powered up on it's own and he had to grab onto the railing to keep himself upright as she hurtled her way through time and space. Apparently she did. "Where are we going?" he demanded. "It's a surprise? I don't know that I care to much for your surprises." He frowned. "Don't tell _me_ to lighten up you cheeky time machine."

The TARDIS ground to a halt, sending him splayed across the floor of the control room. "Thanks," he said sarcastically. He peeled himself up off the grated floor and checked the view screen. "Alright, this says we're in deep space, but the artificial gravity isn't on, so I'm assuming we're on a planet somewhere." The Doctor looked at the glowing cylinder in the center of the console and sighed. "Fine, I'll go out there. This had better be helpful though, or you're getting the silent treatment, do you understand me."

XYZ

You know the drill.


	4. Chapter 4

The Doctor took a deep breath before he opened the door. If he got sucked into deep space, he was never going to speak to the TARDIS again, and the fact that he would be dead was only half of the reason.

When the door opened and he didn't get sucked out he hesitantly stepped out and looked around. It was surreal. It looked like the model of Ancient Gallifrey that was inside the Gallifreyan Museum. The Gallifreyan Government discouraged actually visiting pre-Time Lord times to prevent any meddling with their own timeline.

Surrounding him was a village made of a rose colored marble, that, as far as he knew, was only native to his home planet. But this was definitely not Gallifrey. The purple grass that covered the ground was definitely not of Gallifrey.

He slowly began making his way down one of the streets searching for signs of life. It looked as if everyone had dropped what they were doing and fled. When he peeked inside the windows there were meals abandoned, still steaming, and toys in gardens where children had been playing.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" the Doctor called out as he walked. No answer was forthcoming. "There has to be someone here somewhere."

The Doctor rounded a corner and came face to face with a temple reminiscent of the Parthenon in Athens on earth, but much smaller and made of the same marble as the rest of the houses in the village. But what was it doing here on the edge of the universe, made from Gallifreyan stone.

If he was going to figure out where he was he was, here was as good a place as any. As he approached the temple an elderly man in a long green toga and long white beard and hair stepped out from behind a column and slowly walked towards him with the assistance of a much younger man, possibly 20 or 25.

Hiding behind the columns of the temple other people in similar dress peeked out at him with fear in their eyes.

"Hello," the Doctor called cheerfully as he neared the old man standing nervously. "I seem to have taken a wrong turn. I was wondering if you could tell me where I am?"

The old man blinked, confused. "You do not know where you are?"

"No, I believe I just said that." The Doctor could still be rude once in a while.

"You are a Time Lord are you not?" the fear in the elder's voice evident.

It was the Doctor's turn to be confused, "Yes, but how would you know that. And why are you hiding from me?"

A murmur spread across the crowd. The elder ignored his question and seemed to become braver. "Why have you come here?" he demanded.

"I don't even know where _here_ is. It looks kind of Gallifrey, but since it was destroyed that isn't possible."

A young woman from the crowd spoke up, "Gallifrey was destroyed?"

The Doctor looked at her curiously, but before he could respond the young man standing with the elder accused, "How do we know this isn't one of Rassilon's tricks to get to the Doorway."

"Rassilon? He's been dead for thousands of years, not to say that I haven't had my own run-ins with him, but still, he's long gone by now," the Doctor answered.

The elder approached him carefully and looked into his eyes as if he were searching for something. The Doctor in turn studied him. He appeared to be even older up close. His skin was wrinkled and spotted, his long hair and beard were whispy, and his green eyes were pale, but they were still keen. "Who are you?" he finally asked.

"I am the Doctor. My ship brought me here, probably by mistake. I'm looking for a way to get to an alternate universe," he answered. He figured if they knew who the Time Lords were, even if they feared them for some reason, they would be aware of alternate worlds and the like.

Another murmur passed through the crowd. "Your ship. Did you come in a TARDIS?" the elder questioned seeming to get excited.

"Of course. I came in _the_ TARDIS, there is only one left. And I'm the last of the Time Lords."

Tears filled the old man's eyes, "May I see it?"

Bewildered, the Doctor shrugged, "Sure, I guess, but only after you tell me where I am."

"You are on Karn. The hidden planet. We were brought here to escape being slaughtered by the Time Lords who sought to destroy us and steal the Key to the Portal of Pythia."

The Pythia? He had heard of her. When he was at university they taught that she was an evil tyrant that had been overthrown by Rassilon, forcing the Gallifreyan people to worship her. Of course, Rassilon was no saint himself, but still. Why would these seemingly fearful people be guarding anything of hers, if it were even the same person?

"Who brought you here?" the Doctor asked as he led the people slowly to his ship.

"A brave soul. He was a friend of the usurper, but did not wish to see innocent people die. I believe that he had seen what Rassilon had become. He never told us his name, just said that those who knew his name usually died. When he left us he said that he was going to destroy himself so no one could find us or the Portal."

"How long ago was that?"

"I was but a child, the youngest of Lady Pythia's people. I am now the oldest and the Keeper of the Key. That was 500 years ago now, and I am feeble and weak."

At first the Doctor was surprised until he noticed the odd force field surrounding the planet, possibly a cloaking device designed to keep what this planet hid safe from Rassilon and his followers. It could affect the passage of time, or the TARDIS could have sent him a few thousand years into the past. It was hard to tell with the way she was driving, and his watch didn't want to work right now either.

Once they reached his ship the Doctor and the Elder, who had by now identified himself as Homer, entered. The old man's eyes shown as he gently ran his hand over the coral like columns. "I know this TARDIS," he whispered, barely audible. "I was only 5 years old, but I remember her like it was yesterday."

Of course at first the Doctor thought Homer knowing his ship was strange, but the TARDIS did have a life before he 'high jacked' her when he was young Time Lord and they took off together. No one really cared, she didn't hit it off with any other Time Lords for thousands of years and she just kind of sat there, like she was waiting for someone or something special to come along.


	5. Chapter 5

Thanx to Reichenbach for all her help with the editing and ideas, and too all the people out there that stopped to take the time and read this story and leave a note.

Once again, standard disclaimers apply.

Enjoy.

XYZ

Rose sat up in the rocking chair Pete set up in her bedroom. It was sterile with soft lighting to protect her from any foreign virus or bacteria. Rose's new physical limitations made her feel like a prisoner in her own body.

She still worked from home as much as she could, but instead of stacks of file folders, Jackie wouldn't allow them in the house, they were scanned and Rose read them on her laptop. It gave her a tiny escape.

Her immune system had all but shut down and her body was growing weaker. The most annoying part of all so far though was how easily she bruised now. And the bruises were big and painful. At the moment she had a grapefruit sized knot on her thigh from a dress drawer that was ajar yesterday.

Jackie had had her new baby finally. Everyone thought she would be pregnant for the rest of her life, but here he was, a bouncing baby boy. Rose adored little John Peter Tyler. Whenever she could, she would go to the nursery and just watch him, gaze into his wondrous hazel eyes and whisper the stories of her adventures with the Doctor. He was only a couple of months old, but he seemed to understand her plight. She knew it was daft, but to talk to someone who didn't always look about to burst into tears felt nice.

The physicians had all but given up trying to figure out what was wrong with her and she refused to let the Torchwood doctors turn her into a guinea pig or something else equally bad.

Rose could feel the end coming now, sneaking in. Her chest was starting to rattle when she breathed, and occasionally she coughed. The fits were getting stronger and longer, and it took more time to recover from them when they were over. She was sleeping much more now, some days she couldn't even get out of bed.

XYZ

Rose felt a sense of urgency as she left her room and quietly padded toward the nursery. When she reached the cradle Johnny was awake and watching her as if he, in his 3 month old way, was waiting for her.

She gently lifted him from the bed and almost tripped on her way to the rocker. Rose settled into the seat and held the baby close. There was something she felt she needed to share with him, whether he understood it or not.

"You know when I realized that I loved him for the first time, Johnny?" Rose whispered to her baby brother as she held him. "It was when I thought I was never gunna see him again and that he was gunna die alone on Satellite 5. That's always the way of things. You don't know what you've got until you think you're going to lose it, but don't you make the same mistakes as me, huh."

She gazed into his innocent blue pools and smiled sadly. "You're gunna be much cleverer than me. When you're off havin' your adventures and runnin' Torchwood, you keep your big sister's advice in mind, okay." He smiled back at her as if he understood.

She laid him back in his cradle and slipped out his the nursery. That was the last thing she remembered.

Jackie heard a thump from upstairs and raced up to find Rose collapsed in the corridor.

XYZ

Rose lay in a hospital bed, sleeping restlessly. Mickey sat in the chair next to the bed, asleep with his head on the mattress next her hand. Her family sat with her in shifts and Jackie had a nanny on call 24/7. Rose was never alone.

Mickey stirred and looked around. He had a strange feeling someone had been watching him, but no one was there. He stood and stretched, then left the room to get something to drink.

As he waited for the drink to drop from the machine Mickey felt a breath breeze past his ear and a feminine voice whisper his name. Confused, Mickey turned, expecting someone to be playing a bizarre joke on him, but know one was there. He shrugged it off and headed back to Rose's room. He still had 4 hours until Jackie, who insisted that this mysterious illness had to be the Doctor's fault in some way, came in.

When he plopped down in his well-worn seat and turned on the telly he heard it again. Mickey turned off the TV and sat quietly for a moment. He didn't think he was going crazy, at least he hoped he wasn't. Again the whisper came, "Mickey."

He definitely heard it this time, there was no mistaking it. Then it whispered something else. "Bad Wolf."


	6. Chapter 6

Big thanx to Reichenbach for her beta-ing and brainstorming help and to everyone for their reviews and patience as I muddle my way through this fic. Enjoy the next chapter.

XYZ

Homer smiled an aged, snaggle-toothed grin. "Yes, I think this TARDIS. She's changed a little bit since then, but it's her. The First TARDIS. All the others were just cuttings, like off of a vine."

The TARDIS seemed to pure in the presence of the ancient, like a cat rubbing against the leg of an old friend. "She's beautiful, isn't she? Rassilon would have killed to get his hands on her. In fact, he did kill, but it looks like she escaped him as well."

"How do you know her?" the Doctor asked, wanting to confirm his suspicions.

"She was the TARDIS who brought us here. The vessel of the only Time Lord who would stand up against the conquering regime." Homer's chest seemed to swell, and the admiration of the 5 year old he once was shown in his eyes. Then his expression darkened, "So, what brings the last Time Lord to this place?"

"I'm not sure. I'm trying to get to a friend, and she," he pointed to the glowing center column, "brought me here. I guess the TARDIS thought you could help."

"I see," said Homer, beginning to lean heavily on his cane. "Where is this friend?"

The Doctor hesitates for just a moment before deciding to trust Homer with his tale of woe. "She was sucked into an alternate universe. She is dying, and I need to get to her before it is too late."

Homer sighed, "I cannot help you." The Doctor's shoulders slumped in disappointment. "But, I can assemble the Senate and you can tell them your plight. They can vote to give you access to the Portal of Pythia."

XYZ

It took three days for all the members of the Karn Senate to gather from their villages and cities around the small planet. They assembled inside the temple structure, a place the Doctor had not yet been aloud to enter. At that moment the Doctor was sitting on the steps outside while they discussed whether they would even hear him out. Fortunately, Homer, being the oldest and most influential, was able to sway the majority.

A very young ginger-headed boy warily approached the doctor. "They will see you now," he croaked. The Doctor smiled and mused his hair as he passed him, and entered the building.

To his surprise the ceiling towered high above his head and the walls stretched several football field lengths in every direction. "Bigger on the inside," he whispered to himself. At the far end of the great hall, opposite the entrance sat a massive statue towering nearly to the ceiling. She was seated on a three-legged stool and held a staff with a snake wrapped around it in her right hand.

The Senators sat amphitheatre style around him, 500 men and women of various ages. Homer had explained for every 250 people there was an elected senator, and every adult was expected to serve at some point in their lives, even if only for a few months. They wore brightly colored togas, all had red hair, and 1000 green eyes stared at him, accusingly.

There was a murmur across the crowd as the Doctor took center stage, so to speak. He leaned over to Homer, who sat on a stool next to him and whispered, "How does this work?"

"Just follow my lead." Homer cleared his throat, "The representative of Gallifrey has come seeking the help of the Karn people."

"We were Gallifreyan once," someone shouted angrily from the crowd. "Why should we help those who betrayed us?"

"People!" Homer shouted above the restless assembly. They immediately became silent, attesting to his influence. "As many of you have already heard, the Time Lords have been destroyed, killed honorably in battle against a great enemy. We should put away our bitterness now and embrace our long lost brother. I would not have summoned you all here if I did not feel his cause was just." He looked across at the crowd, and some looked apologetic, some looked rebellious, but none spoke. "Now, the Doctor, would like to request the use of the key to the Portal of Pythia. This will take him into the void where he can request the assistance of Pythia."

A man in the audience stood and waited to be recognized. Homer acknowledged him, "Yes Tiberius?"

"What reason could he possibly have to need her help?"

The Doctor did know what he needed her help with either, honestly, but he answered, "I have a friend who is very ill and I need to get to her to help her."

"So," a woman answered. "Lots of people get sick, what makes her so special?"

"Hortencia, please?" Homer scolded, mortified.

"No, it's okay, I want to answer," the Doctor interrupted. "The reason she is sick is because she absorbed the time vortex from my TARDIS and used it to end the Time War, but she isn't a Time Lord. The TARDIS kept her alive as long as she traveled with me, but a while back we were separated and she was sent into an alternate universe. Without the TARDIS she will die."

Hortencia sat down, considering him with skeptical green eyes. He took a deep breath and began telling them the entire story of how they met and all that she had done for the universe to protect it. Occasionally one of the senators would stand and ask a question, but most were enthralled by the tale. Being isolated on this planet was difficult, and when something new happened, which was never until now, they wanted to know everything.

"And that's how I ended up here. If there is any way that you can help me, I would be forever indebted to you."

Homer returned to the stage next to him, "Thank you, Doctor." He turned to the crowd. "Now, it is late. We will consider your request and reconvene in the morning to make a final decision. This session is dismissed."

The senators all stood and the elevated seats lowered until they were flush with the floor, leaving nothing behind but a smooth surface. As the people filed out, he turned to Homer, "So, how do you think that went?"

"I'm not sure."

XYZ

The Doctor sat on the bench seat in front of the console of the TARDIS and stared at his hands. He had been doing that for the past four hours, since he had gotten back from having supper with Homer and his family. As it turned out, Hortencia was his great-great-grand daughter.

He heard a knock on the door of the TARDIS. The Doctor wondered whom it could be this late, and it was too dark outside for him to see anything on the view screen. He cautiously opened the door and was surprised to see Hortencia standing there looking behind herself nervously. Her red hair seemed to glow in the light of the console of the as she stepped into the control room.

"Can I help you, Hortencia?"

"No, but I can help you. The Senate is going to vote against you tomorrow," she stated gravely. "They just don't trust you and there is nothing you can do to change that."

"I don't understand. What are you doing here if they aren't going to help?" She sighed and opened her hand. In it was what appeared to be a black glass ball about the size of a baseball. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yes. This is the sister black hole to the Eye of Harmony the Time Lords used to power their TARDIS system. It opens the gate so you can travel safely into and out of the void. Pythia left it for us so we could get to her if we ever needed. It's what Rassilon was after when he planned to attack us. My grandfather has been its keeper for centuries now." Tears filled her eyes and threatened to spill over. "He wants you too take it and save the Bad Wolf. I don't know what that means, but if you do go, you have to promise me that you will return it. The consequences will be dire for him and for us if you do not."

The Doctor closed his hands around hers, still holding the sphere. "I swear to you, I will return and _nothing_ will happen to your grandfather." Hortencia let out a shuddered breath she didn't know she was holding, and for some unknown reason there she believed him. Maybe it was his brown eyes, she had never seen brown eyes before.

She turned and left the TARDIS, her green toga disappearing into the dark night.


	7. Chapter 7

As always, thanx to Reichenbach. You're great. And to everyone who reads, and even more to everyone who reviews, and even more to those who review nicely.

Enjoy.

XYZ

Mickey knew immediately what to do. He peeked down the hall, making sure no one was coming. Then he gently woke Rose.

She looked at him through bleary eyes, attempting to smile, despite the pain. "Rose, I have to take you to the Doctor, now."

Confused, she nodded her head and tried to get out of bed. "It's okay, I'll just carry you," he said, reaching out and lifting her like she was made of feathers.

At the door he checked one more time for anyone in the corridor, then he slipped out and headed toward the stairwell. Fortunately her room was only on the third floor, so he didn't have far to go to get to the car park.

Miraculously, they made it to his old Land Rover unnoticed. He tucked her into the passenger's seat and tilted it back as far as it would go, making sure she was as comfortable as possible.

Fifteen minutes later a nurse walked into the room to find it deserted except for a slip of paper on the bed stand that read 'Bad Wolf.'

He was well on his way to the coast when his cell began ringing. He ignored it for as long as possible, all of 10 minutes, knowing who it would be, and not wanting to deal with her at the moment.

"This is Mickey," he finally caved.

"WERE THE HELL ARE YOU? And what have done with Rose?" Jackie demanded, loudly.

"I'm taking her to the Doctor," he answered matter-of-factly, as if she should have known that.

"That's not funny, Mickey. Now tell me what's going on."

Mickey rolled his eyes. She was exasperating at times. "I got a message and I'm taking her to Bad Wolf Bay. The Doctor is the only one who can help her. Now, you can meet us there, but you can't stop me. This is the only way to save her."

There was silence on the line and for a second Mickey thought she hung up the phone. "Alright, but don't let him leave before we get there, do you hear me, Mickey. I'll skin you myself if you do."

He sighed in relief, glad she wasn't going to fight him on this. He just knew this was only way. He looked over at Rose. She looked so small and helpless. Not the Rose that he and the Doctor, and even Jack, where ever he was, had fallen in love with.

Jackie threw the phone at the wall, where it shattered. Pete looked at her expectantly. "We're going to Bad Wolf Bay."

XYZ

Mickey drove along the desolate beach. The sky was grey, appropriate, he thought. The foamy waves lapped at the flat sand like it was reaching out for his tires. He was almost there.

He pulled to a stop and rubbed his hands together. It was so cold here.

He cranked up the heat and tucked the blankets in tighter around Rose to keep her warm. Then he just sat back and waited. He had to have faith in the Doctor, that way Rose had faith in him. He would come through for her. If he was going to come through for anyone, it would be her.

XYZ

The Doctor looked at the black hole in his hand, that sounded strange, and wondered how to use it. He walked over to the console and stared at it, thinking. Just when he was about to pull up a grate and start crawling around underneath, a panel he had never seen before opened and a clear cylinder rose from the console near the display screen.

"Huh, I guess this goes in here then." He gently dropped the ball into the tube and it immediately descended back into the hole and closed. The engine powered up on it's own, again, and took off, for lack of a better word.

Suddenly the TARDIS stopped. Everything stopped. The machinery shut down, the lights went out. It was dark and it was silent, and he hadn't crashed, which was the strangest part of all.

He was in mid-flight, he and half of the control room should have been strewn across the floor.

The Doctor stood still for a moment, waiting, even though he wasn't sure what he was waiting for. Then a whisper came in the stillness, soft and warm, "Doctor."


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks to Reichenbach for being such a pain in the butt, erm, I mean beta-ing. Everybody enjoy.

XYZ

The Sonic Screwdriver was out of commission, along with his engines. If Rose was dying and the TARDIS was out of commission the Doctor needed to find out where he was.

The Doctor felt his way to the door in the darkness, guided by light shining through the yellow, age-encrusted windows on the entrance doors, and cautiously opened the door.

The sun shown brightly in the eyes and the Doctor had to blink several times before he could focus on the landscape. It was picturesque to say the least. A grassy green meadow spread out before him, scattered with vividly colored flowers. Through the meadow ran a small brook and just on the opposite side of the bank was a little girl.

She was picking flowers and slashing her bare feet in the water as she hummed a familiar tune. Long, raven, curly hair fell around her shoulders and obscured her face from view as she skipped along, and her long, flowy, white frock hid all but her toes.

Suddenly, she looked up with piercing blue eyes and flashed a dazzling smile at him, as if she knew him. The Doctor was reminded of the Earth fairy tale of Snow White as he looked at her.

Then she turned and began to run away. The Doctor gave chase, "Wait, don't run," he called after the child, but she didn't stop, and he could hear her giggling as she sped away. For a little thing she was quick, he could barely keep up with her. She disappeared over the hill and as she topped it was struck with another picturesque sight.

A tiny stone cottage sat near the base of the hill. It had a thatched roof and a grey stone fence with a white picket gate. The garden was a lush, rich dark green, bright purple and yellow flowers he had never seen before standing tall, waving at him in the gentle breeze. Ivy covered as much of the stone walls as the plants could reach, which were most of them, the deep green a stark contrast to the aged grey, and it still reached to cover more.

The little girl ran through the arched open gate to the woman standing in the center of the garden and launched herself in the woman's arms. The woman scooped her up and kissed her cheeks enthusiastically, spinning her around the garden.

Standing at the crest of the hill the Doctor watched, feeling like he was intruding on a very intimate family moment. From his vantage point the two looked like a statue, long limbed, long toga dresses swirling around them and together, making it difficult to tell where on dress ended and the other began. The woman, he assumed the mother, had her hair done up in a classic Greek style, with two silver bands winking sunlight at him, long tendrils escaping and falling loose around her shoulders and down her back, reaching just passed her hips.

The Doctor approached the little house more slowly, not wanting to startle the woman. She turned to him and smiled brightly, "Hello, Doctor. Would you like some tea?"

"Um, okay," he answered and dumbly followed the strange woman into the cottage.

Once inside he nonchalantly examined his surroundings. There was a small table set for three near the door with a tiny country kitchen behind it. The table was set with a full tea set, sandwiches, cakes and all, waiting for him apparently. The sitting room was off to the left of the door, and looked very much like a page out of one of those interior decorator magazines, like the ones Eliza, one of his companions, always read. He used to find swatches everywhere and had to stop her on more than one occasion when she tried to reupholster Rose's bench. The cottage was very 'quaint.' Musty books filled shelves that surrounded the sitting room, interrupted only by windows, flooding the room with massive amounts of sunlight into the building. Several Victorian settees gave the reader plenty of choices to sit.

The kitchen, with it's wood stove and cupboards, were much what you would expect in a country home, painted white with fresh flowers everywhere, stuffed in every available vase and pitcher.

"It's wonderful to meet you. I've been observing you your entire life, and I find you to be fascinating. You are quite unique, as far as Time Lords go." The strange woman said as she sat down with the little girl in her lap, motioning for the Doctor to sit across from her at the table.

The Doctor sat down cautiously. "What do you mean you've been watching me? Who are you?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. You must think me terribly rude." She offered her hand in a friendly handshake across the table. "I'm Pythia." His hand tingled when he released hers, feeling very much like an electric charge had just passed through him.

"Pythia? The one the people of Karn worship?" he asked, suspiciously. She did look remarkably like the statue that sat in the temple/senate building on the small planet. He had heard is own stories about her on Gallifrey. Most were designed to scare young Time Lords, but some were taught in school as history. Terrible stories of tyranny and brutality. She was even thought to have caused the Time Lords to become infertile when she was expelled from Gallifrey, forcing them to devise an alternative means of reproduction.

"They don't worship me. I, just like you, would make a very bad god. They protect me."

The Doctor shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "From Rassilon?" the Doctor questioned skeptically.

She smiled at his confusion, "And others like him."

The Doctor studied her. At first she appeared to be just like any another humanoid. Long, dark, curly hair like the child, fair skin, elegant in her long white gown, blue, keen eyes. But behind her eyes there was a strange gold energy swirling, like Rose's when she absorbed the Time Vortex, but not with the same intensity. It made her eyes kind of shift from blue to green, then back to blue again, rather than bubbling just below the surface, burning her from the inside out like magma in a volcano. "What are you?"

She smiled a condescending smile, like she were about to explain something to a small child, and all of a sudden he understood how his companions felt when he talked down to them. "I am a non-linear energy being. I'm native to the Void."

He had never heard of a non-linear being, and life within the Void, that was…"That's impossible," he declared.

"Oh, Doctor. You are so young and naïve to the ways of the Universe. That is what I love about you solid creatures, you still have so much to learn. I was fighting a war before this universe was even conceived."


End file.
